The "Alien: Covenant" director says he's ready to begin production on the next installment as early as next year.

Ridley Scott is far from finished making “Alien” movies after his upcoming “Alien: Covenant,” which opens in theaters May 19. The filmmaker wants to make another six installments of the franchise he started back in 1979 with the first film, about a deadly passenger on a space ship. “If you really want a franchise, I can keep cranking it for another six,” Scott told The Sydney Morning Herald. “I’m not going to close it down again. No way.”

In “Alien: Covenant,” Scott brings back the sci-fi horror of the original “Alien.” He sees his latest film as one of three sequels to his second “Alien” movie, 2012’s “Prometheus,” which was a prequel to the original. “What we did really well on ‘Prometheus,’ considering that it was a ground zero idea that was starting all over again, was I discovered that people do have an appetite for the alien and what he means and his evolution – the egg, the facehugger, the chestburster as we call them,” he told the paper. “People still want to see it. So I return to a little bit of that but not wholeheartedly; there’s a lot in here which is new as well.”

After making the first “Alien,” starring Sigourney Weaver, Scott moved on to make “Blade Runner.” James Cameron continued with the series with “Aliens” in 1986. Then, David Fincher made “Alien 3” in 1992, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet made the fourth installment, “Alien: Resurrection,” in 1997. Then, Scott returned to the franchise with “Prometheus.”

Scott’s plan for six more installments —on top of the five already made and “Alien: Covenant”— would bring the franchise to a total of 12 films. He told the paper he had the next installment written while still working on “Alien: Covenant,” and he is ready to begin production as early as next year.

“You’ve got to assume to a certain extent success and from that you’d better be ready,” he says. “You don’t want a two-year gap. So I’ll be ready to go again next year.”

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